Leap
by Jasper's Second Choice
Summary: Sometimes, a little alcohol can fix a big mistake. B/B, set post episode 100. Rated for very mild language and alcohol use.
1. Chapter 1

AN: My first Bones fic. Set post episode 100, and definitely AU beyond that point. Comments/Constructive Criticism always welcomed!

No copyright infringement intended, I own nothing, I write only for pleasure and to bend other peoples' characters to my will. :)

The Lab  
5:30 PM

"Come on, Brennan. You've done nothing but work and sleep for the last month-and I'm not convinced about the second one. You're here when I leave. You're here when I get to work in the morning. Come out with me tonight. We'll have a girl's night. It'll be great. We'll have a few drinks, maybe dance a little...what do you say?"

Temperance Brennan sighed. She knew her best friend was right, but she'd been less in the mood to be social than usual the last few weeks.

"Fine, Angela. We'll go out. Can I at least go home and shower first?" Angela Montenegro grinned.

"Of course. But I'm coming to your place to make sure you leave it again."

The Founding Fathers  
7:00 PM

Brennan was seriously regretting agreeing to come out with Angela earlier that evening. She loved her, of course, but her best friend's constant determination to pull her out of the funk she was in was driving her batty. Work was the way to distract her mind. The satisfaction of a case solved, a person given their identity back. That was the way to contentment.

She was full of shit and she knew it.

"Sweetie, you are still way too distracted. That means...shots!" Angela cried out enthusiastically, signalling to the bartender for two tequila shots.

"If this doesn't relax you, then I give up. Nothing will."

"Angela, you know I'm excellent at holding my alcohol. My tolerance exceeds even Booth's." She stopped suddenly after saying the name she'd been struggling to avoid in all but work situations.

"You may be good, but I'm better," Angela said, taking careful note of Brennan's catch of voice. "I swear, you are going to relax tonight."

Brennan's House  
9:00 PM

Downing the last of a glass of water, Dr. Temperance Brennan set the glass down on the table before dropping her face into her hands. "I swear, Angela, if I am hung over tomorrow, it'll be you on my remains table. But I will not need to identify you. Because I'll kill you myself."

Angela laughed. She'd successfully gotten Brennan drunk, and although it had been half an hour since they'd had anything but water, her best friend was nowhere near sober. She picked up the glass and moved to return it to the kitchen sink. As she returned, she heard a soft sniffle from the couch, where Brennan's face was still in her hands.

"Sweetie?" Angela asked carefully, sitting down beside her friend. "What's the matter?"

"Ang, what am I going to do? I've ruined everything," Temperance said, lifting her head and turning to Angela, who was stunned to see the traces of tears running down her face.

"Ruined what?" Angela said. She wasn't nearly as drunk as Brennan, but she wasn't completely clear-headed either.

"Booth. Booth told me he wanted me, Angela and I'm a coward and I told him no. I pushed him away and I told him no and now he is going to move on and I will have missed my chance. And the worst part is I know I am only saying this because I'm drunk and as soon as I am sober I will become a coward again and I will never tell him this." Her voice choked with tears as she buried her face into her hands once again. Angela wrapped her arms around her best friend's waist and hugged her.

"Oh, sweetie." Angela said. "I didn't know. When?"

"A month ago? Maybe? I don't know. I don't remember. It was when we were setting Sweets straight about his book. "

That explained her more-workaholic-than-usual behaviour.

"You have to tell him."

"I told you Ang, I can't. By the time I see him tomorrow, I'll be sober and a complete coward again. I've lost him. And for some reason that terrifies me. It's completely illogical. My existence has never been justified by another person before. But the days I don't work on a case with him, I feel lost, like I'm missing something." She flopped backwards against the back of the couch with a deep breath and a sigh, and stared at the ceiling. Angela glanced around the room for a minute.

"I've got to use the bathroom, sweetie. You stay here. I'll be right back."

"Yeah, sure. Take your time." Eyes not leaving the ceiling, Brennan failed to notice Angela's entry into her bedroom, rather than the bathroom, and didn't notice the nearly ten minutes pass that her friend was gone. Angela came back and sat beside her, offering her another glass of water. They sat in silence for a few short minutes before a soft knock was heard on the door.

"I'll get it. I don't know how well you can walk anyway," Angela said, a lightly teasing tone to her voice despite knowing Temperance could walk just fine.

With her back to the door, Brennan vaguely recognized two voices talking very softly, but couldn't be bothered to pay enough attention to figure out who the visitor was. She heard the soft movement of a jacket-although it seemed more like two, there was a lot of swishing going on, that was one thing her still-drunk brain recognized-and the door clicked shut.

"Who was it, Angela?" she asked as she heard footsteps returning to her. The couch shifted far more than it should have when Angela sat down. Brennan's head turned like a shot.

"Booth!" she exclaimed, scooting quickly to the far end of the couch, as far from her partner as she could get without actually standing up.

"Bones," he said, looking at her. "Bones what's wrong? You're crying." He reached out to her, as if to wipe her tears away, then dropped his hand suddenly, remembering her former rejection.

"I've lost it," she said softly, before she could stop herself.

"Lost what, Bones?" he asked. He'd only ever seen her look so vulnerable once, when she was exclaiming that she wasn't going to be any good for him.

"Lost my chance. Lost...lost...y..." she trailed off, tears springing from behind her eyes again as she tried to fight what she was saying. Booth moved towards her on the couch and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly to his chest as she cried.

"I love you." she whispered before she could stop herself, her face buried so far into his shirt, drenching it as tears streamed down her face that she was certain he couldn't hear her anyway.

He could.

And suddenly, the entire last month faded away. Brennan felt herself rising as Booth pushed lightly against her shoulders. Brown eyes pored into green as she attempted to force herself to control her emotions.

"I'm sorry, I..." she stammered.

"Bones?" Booth said softly, not taking his eyes from hers.

"Yeah, Booth?"

"Shut up."

And with that, their lips met. Bones' hands slid up his arms and behind his neck, one continuing up to entwine itself in his short hair as she pulled him closer to her. As they reluctantly pulled apart a few moments later, Booth smiled.

"What are you smiling about?" she asked him, smiling back at him.

"Well, a few things," he said, "but in particular, I'm thinking about how I really have to thank Angela tomorrow for getting you drunk tonight."

"I might even forgive her if I'm hung over." Bones said, smirking as she leaned in to kiss him again.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: So, funny story. I never actually intended this to be a chaptered story-Leap was supposed to be a oneshot. But I forgot to mark it as complete, and when people started signing up for story alerts (Thank You, by the way!) I figured I should try and get some more written. Turns out, I have more ideas for this story, so there should be more chapters to come!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Bones is owned by Fox and Hart Hanson. I write for entertainment only, not profit, and no copyright infringement is intended. But boy, what I wouldn't do to own Booth (Or Hodgins for that matter...)

* * *

Brennan woke up the next morning to the feel of strong arms holding her closely.

"Mmm..." she mumbled, snuggling up to the warm man beside her before she woke up fully and sat bolt upright.

_Booth...is in my bed, _she thought before quickly recalling the events of the previous evening. It had been a night of reconnection and though he'd tried, ever the gentleman, to go home around 2AM, she'd insisted he stay the night. They hadn't had sex-hell, Booth had refused to even come into her bedroom until she'd already changed into pyjamas-but they'd held each other tightly throughout the night.

"Where're you goin?" Booth murmured, still half asleep, as Brennan moved to step out of the bed.

"I was going to get a glass of water," she said softly, moving the blanket back up over his arm. "Stay here. I'll be back."

"Mmm-mm. You stay here," he said, his eyes still closed as he reached out and found her torso, pulling her back to him. She laughed.

"For me this is strange, but I would truly find that preferable. Unfortunately, it is 6AM, and I have to get ready to go in to the lab. I need some water and aspirin before I can go anywhere, seeing as how Angela's idea of girl's night has left me feeling unwell," Brennan said, realizing only at this point that her head was pounding. The hangover wasn't too bad overall, but her head definitely needed some help. She leaned down to press a kiss to his temple before rising fully off the bed. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and groaned.

"Six, huh? Yeah..I guess I should head home to get a clean suit and head in to the Hoover. Damn but I wish I could just stay here with you all day." Brennan turned from her place at the doorway to the room and smiled at him.

"Feel like getting lunch at the diner today?"

"I wouldn't miss it."

It was 7:30 when Brennan strolled in to the Jeffersonian. She headed to her office and hung up her jacket, then sat at her computer to catch up on a few emails before heading into the lab to see what was in store for the day. They didn't have any cases at the moment, so Brennan was contemplating working on one or two of the civil war Johns and Janes. She had just finished sending off the last email when a figure entered her doorway and a very familiar voice nearly squealed,

"Soo...how was your night?" Brennan looked up at Angela and smiled.

"Just fine, Ang, thanks. How was yours?" she asked, nonchalantly, as if she had no idea why Angela was so interested.

"Ugh, Bren, sweetie, don't try and play innocent with me. It's not gonna work. Come on, spill! What happened after I left?"

"Well, after somebody invited somebody else over to my house and then snuck out," Brennan said, trying to glare convincingly at Angela but failing miserably, "we talked. And...well, we got a few things out in the open. He spent the night and we are going to have lunch together today."

"Woah, woah, he spent the NIGHT?" Angela exclaimed, trying-and failing-to keep her voice down.

"Yes. We didn't have intercourse, if that's what you're thinking," Brennan clarified, knowing full well that that was what her best friend had been thinking, "but he did spend the night at my house and it was...very nice."

"Eee!" Angela exclaimed, leaning down to wrap her arms around her best friend. "Oh Bren, I'm so happy. I didn't imagine this would happen when I called Booth. Well okay maybe I imagined it but I didn't actually think it would happen. I'm so happy for you. Are you happy? You are happy, right?" Angela was beginning to babble, but she caught herself and stopped before she went any further. Brennan smiled.

"Yes, Ang. I am happy. Irrationally so, actually. I see no reason to be as happy as I am, especially as I have a horrible headache. But somehow, the headache doesn't matter. I'm happy and it feels like nothing will stop that. Also, I'm irrationally excited about lunch. I don't even like eating lunch."

"Yeah, because usually you'd rather be working. Funny how seemingly unimportant things like lunch can become instantly more appealing when you admit you're in love, huh?" Brennan smiled and shook her head slightly, a blush coming to her cheeks. Angela grinned widely again.

"It's just about eight. I'd better go. I've got a few reconstructions to work on. We'll talk later," she said, grinning with just a hint of mischief in her eyes. Brennan knew Angela was never up to any good when she got that look. She smiled and glanced at her computer screen again before looking at Angela.

"Yeah, alright. I'll see you a little later, Ang. When you finish those reconstructions let me know." Angela turned and left her office. As Brennan stood up to do the same, she caught sight of a framed picture on her desk. It was one Hodgins had taken of her and Booth a couple of years before. She smiled and began to anticipate lunch time again. They hadn't made any specific plans regarding time yet, so she decided she would call Booth at 11:45 to see when he wanted to have lunch.

* * *

11:30 AM  
The Lab

Brennan was trying to focus on the body lying in front of her, but every synapse in her body seemed to be humming with anticipation. She knew, logically, that synapses did not hum, and certainly not in anticipation, but she was so jittery with irrational excitement-after all, how often had she and Booth shared a meal?-that she could barely concentrate. Even after three and a half hours, she'd only finished with one body and had barely started on this one. She started her tape recorder.

"Pelvic structure shows victim is female. Dentals indicate age to be mid-twenties, although upper left canine tooth is missing and both upper front teeth are broken. Damage to the front teeth appears to be antemortem, but the canine was removed postmortem."

"Hey, Bones," came a casual voice from behind her. Brennan whirled around, startled. She hadn't heard the familiar beep of an identity card being swiped. She hastily hit the 'stop' button on her recorder.

"Booth!" she said, a bit more happily than she had intended and drawing the glances of several of her coworkers, including Cam and Hodgins.

"Could we talk for a minute?" he asked casually, indicating with his head that they should go up to her office.

"Yes, of course. Ah, is everything okay? We don't have a case, do we?"

"No, no case," he said, as he followed her out of the lab. They walked upstairs to her office and they were soon out of sight of the other scientists.

"What was that about?" Cam asked Hodgins.

"You've got me," he said, shrugging. "If anyone's going to know it'd be Angie." Cam grinned.

"Yeah, you're probably right."

Brennan shut the door behind Booth as they entered her office. She turned to find her immediately in front of her, and he leaned down to kiss her softly before he spoke.

"God, I've been waiting to do that all day. Hi." he said.

"Hi, Booth," she said, almost shyly.

"I was bored, so I decided to leave for lunch a little early-is that ok? Are you ready?"

"Yeah, I'm ready. I was going to call you in a few minutes anyway. We hadn't decided on a time," she said, looking up at him, "but I'm glad you came before I called. I...missed you." The words sounded strange to her, even coming from her own mouth, but she couldn't deny the truth of them. Booth smiled widely at her.

"I missed you too," he said. "I hope I didn't make Cam and Hodgins suspicious down there, showing up like this when there's no case." Brennan shrugged.

"Probably, but I am sure they won't say anything to you. Well, maybe not. They'll probably go and ask Angela while we are at lunch." Brennan shrugged out of her lab coat and pulled on her jacket over her turquoise blouse as she spoke.

"That colour is incredible on you," Booth said, drawing her eyes to his with a gentle tug to her chin as he admired her. Brennan blushed.

"I like turquoise. It reminds me of the ocean," she said.

"It matches your eyes," he said softly, leaning down to kiss her again. She stretched her arms up to lock themselves behind his neck as she returned his kiss. He pulled back reluctantly after a minute.

"We really should go get some lunch," he said, "or we're going to run out of time."

"You're right, of course," Brennan said, trying to regain full control of her breathing. She reached up to pull her messy ponytail out of its holder and ran her fingers through her hair a few times to straighten it out. "Let's go." They peeked out of her office down to the lab to see that it was empty, and then clasped hands as they walked out of the building. They didn't see Angela and Hodgins peeking at them as they left, Angela quietly squealing and Hodgins chuckling and shaking his head at the two of them.


	3. Chapter 3

AN-I'm not in love with this chapter. I'm not sure why. If you have any feedback, please please leave it for me in a review. That said, I've already started planning out the next chapter and hope to start writing tomorrow. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed or signed up for story alerts so far-you are my inspiration to keep writing!

Disclaimer-As always, I own nothing. Bones belongs to Fox and Hart Hanson. I simply take the characters and bend them to my will.  


* * *

8:00 PM  
Bones' House

"Seriously, Bones. That is the best macaroni and cheese. Ever. Anywhere." Booth said as he carried his bowl into the kitchen.

"I know," she said, grinning at him playfully. "I do make excellent macaroni and cheese. I apologize for being so late at the lab today. I really needed to catch up after being gone so long at lunch time." Their forty-five minute lunch break had turned into a three hour lunch before they'd noticed the time passing. They simply hadn't run out of things to talk about. Cam, having spoken to Angela, completely understood but had pretended to lecture Brennan anyway. Always blind to facades, Bones had stayed much longer than necessary to identify a few more civil war victims.

"Hey, no worries. How can I complain when I get the world's best macaroni and cheese?" Booth flashed her a smile as he loaded the last of the bowls into the dishwasher and she placed the leftovers in the refrigerator.

"Booth, I-"

"Bones, I-" They laughed.

"You go first," Booth offered.

"Well, I was thinking that as it is Friday, and we won't be working tomorrow, and I am really enjoying spending this time with you...would you like to spend the weekend here? I mean, I understand if you don't, if it's too much or if you have Parker this weekend or-" she was silenced when he placed a finger lightly over her lips, and when she looked in his eyes she saw wonder and pure happiness shining out of them.

"I don't have Parker this weekend, Bones. If I didn't stay here with you, I'd probably just sit in my apartment, missing you and wishing I was here instead. " Bones finally understood what people meant when they said their heart was bursting out of their chest. Clearly her heart was going nowhere; however, she felt a strange swelling sensation in her chest accompanied by the most pure happiness she could have ever imagined. "I will need to go home and get some clothes, though," Booth said with a note of disappointment in his voice. "Wait for me?"

"Of course." Bones said simply. Booth dropped a slow, chaste kiss on her forehead before wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug.

"I'll be back so quickly you'll hardly know I was gone," he said, before releasing her and putting on his jacket in record time.

* * *

9:10 PM

The long-awaited knock finally arrived on Bones' door. She opened it as quickly as she could and found Booth standing there, holding not only a black duffel bag with his things for the weekend, but also a bouquet of orange lilies.

"Booth, they're beautiful. Where did you find these at this hour?" Bones asked, stunned.

"I called in a few favours," he grinned. "And it was so worth it." She stepped back from the door to allow him entry.

"Suddenly, I feel underdressed." Her comment brought his attention to her outfit, which she had changed since he'd left. She'd changed into her pyjamas, a navy blue satiny set of pants and a camisole style top. She moved into the kitchen and pulled a vase out of a cupboard, with him following behind.

"Actually, you look perfect," he said as she filled the vase with water and arranged the flowers in it. "See, I'd thought we could watch a movie tonight, and comfort is key when watching a movie, you know." Bones smiled.

"That hardly looks like the most comfortable outfit in the world," she said. He had changed out of his work clothes, but the belted jeans with a form fitting t-shirt-not that she didn't appreciate the shirt, mind-certainly didn't look as comfortable as her favourite pyjamas.

"Well, I couldn't drive here in my PJ's, could I?" Booth laughed. "I'm going to go change. You go get settled on the couch. I'll be right there. " Bones smiled sweetly at him.

"Be quick," she said.

No sooner had Bones pulled a fluffy green blanket out of the hall cupboard and spread it out on the couch did Booth walk in. Bones stopped her action dead when he entered the room wearing just a pair of plaid cotton pants.

"Uh, that was, um, faster than I expected, I'm not quite sitting yet, um, but I'm almost ready?" she stammered in a most un-Bones-like manner, in shock at the sight of the half-naked man in front of her. Her brain screamed at her to regain some semblance of control, but her mouth refused to listen. _Come on, Brennan, _she thought, _It's not like you haven't seen him without a shirt before. Obviously he is an excellent example of the male form, but that's no reason to lose yourself. _

"Are you OK, Bones?" Booth asked, trying desperately not to chuckle at the sight of the usually composed Bones stammering and turning red. "I can go put a shirt on if you want. You keep your place a little warmer than I usually keep mine, so I left it off, but it's no big deal."

"N-no. No. Booth. It's fine. I apologize. I most likely made you feel ostracized by becoming so speechless," Brennan said as she struggled to regain control of her speech. "I was just startled. No, that isn't the right word. But I didn't expect you to come out without your shirt. That is all. Is it too warm in here?" she asked, suddenly feeling decidedly warmer herself as she felt heat rising once again in her cheeks. Booth smiled at her tenderly, still trying desperately to hold back the chuckle that was trying to escape. She was so innocent when she tried to maintain her composure, despite the fact that she should have known he could see right through her.

"It's fine in here, Bones. Really. Don't worry. Now. You sit, I'll get the movie set up," he said, indicating for her move back to the couch while he moved towards the DVD player. After fiddling with the buttons for a minute, he grabbed the remote and came to sit beside her as the DVD started running. By the time he had settled himself next to her, the title of the movie had begun to roll.

"50 First Dates? Booth, somehow I don't think this is really either of our kind of movie," Bones said with a skeptical look on her face as she glanced at him.

"Yeah, maybe not," Booth said, a very slight, very rare blush coming to his cheeks for once, "but somehow it seemed appropriate. Let me have a little fun, will ya Bones?" he asked.

"Why not?" she asked rhetorically as she settled in closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder. Booth grinned and wrapped an arm around her.

* * *

11:00 PM

"Oh, the, ah, movie's over," Booth said, happening to notice the credits rolling. They hadn't caught much of the movie, spending the majority of the last hour and a half or so caught up in one another. They had played and talked and kissed and the film had quickly become background noise.

"Excellent, a distraction," Bones said, struggling to regain her breath. They were both laughing over their latest game, which had involved Booth discovering that she was ticklish. Extremely ticklish. Everywhere. And he was taking great joy in exploiting that weakness. Bones tried to push herself up off the couch but tripped over the fuzzy blanket, now tangled around her ankles, and landed in a heap on the floor, sending them both back into fits of laughter.

"Bones, are you okay?" Booth asked between spurts of laughter.

"Yeah, yeah, fine, just...help me get this blanket untangled?" Bones asked. Booth reached down off the couch to oblige and Bones took the opportunity to grab him by the shoulders and pull him down. Caught off guard, Booth went down easily, landing squarely on top of Bones but thankfully catching himself before the full weight of him landed on his much smaller-though certainly strong-companion. The laughter stopped suddenly as they looked into each other's eyes and worked to steady their breathing.

"I, um, I think I'm ready for bed now, Booth," Bones said haltingly.

"Yeah. Yeah. I think it's time to turn off the TV." Booth replied, using all of his strength to push himself up off of her and move towards the television set. Hitting the power button, he turned to see Bones resettling the blanket on the couch. Before she could move away, he approached her from behind, wrapping his arms around her waist and whispering in her ear.

"Not tonight, Bones. We've waited so long to get here, I think we can wait a little longer, what do you think?" he asked. "I don't want to rush things. Not now."

"I agree," Bones said, turning in his arms to face him, "but I still want you to come to bed with me. And I'm still going to do this," she said, as she pulled his head down to kiss him slowly but with more heat than he'd ever felt from a single kiss.

As she unentwined herself from his grasp, taking his hand to pull him behind her, Booth couldn't help but wonder at how he had suddenly gotten so lucky.


End file.
